Apple seeks to power its Mac laptops with an ARM-based processor

The first news Mark Gurman has announced from Bloomberg left more than one of us with very high hopes and expectations. A few sources have rumored that Apple is working on a new chip for their Mac based on ARM architecture. This would mean a breakthrough towards total control over all of their computers components’ manufacturing process. It seems like the project was born last year and the name given to it was T310.

The chip on which the new Apple processors are based is the same that powers their brand new MacBook Pro Devices’ Touch Bar, the T1, which initially will work in conjunction with an Intel processor and aims to work Mac’slow-power consumption features.

And so, the company currently located in Cupertino, California, has implemented a plan to rely less and less of Intel and aim for the development of its own processors influenced onto the ARM architecture.

One of the reasons currently driving Apple to make this decision is the way of implementing their own integrated chips with extending the battery life of their MacBook as their main goal.

ARM in conjunction with Intel

Among the low-power features that the Mac chip is aiming to perform is included the Power Nap, in which the device can hold in standby and install updates simultaneously, synchronize data or download mail. The intention of assigning this task to an ARM chip would leave the Intel CPU with a lot less burden, saving more battery power.

The main source in charge of transmitting this report decided to remain anonymous as a precaution not to get caught in the consequences of sharing and divulging this kind of rumor. These affirm that for now these chips do not seek to supplant those of Intel just immediately, as is a long-term goal still lacking some elbow grease and hard work to get done, however, when the news was posted, Intel had a fall in 0,8% out of its shares.

With these improvements future Mac laptops will have greater efficiency

According to market estimates research firm IDC, Apple was accounted for only 7.5% of worldwide Personal Computer sales over 2016’s fourth quarter. However, analysts said that the Mac lineup is very much inclined to become a raising trend when it comes to the standards implementation, and new features, which are then applied by other manufacturers.

The creation of a more advanced chip to be used in the new Mac laptops is a new goal reached by the company in its path to become totally independent of their actual strict relation and dependency from Intel processors.

In addition, Apple has been using their own processors series in the iPad and iPhone since the year 2010, turning its chipset business into one of the most relevant long-term investments owned by the California-based company.

As a result, the company’s engineers are developing a plan to introduce a new kind of low-power mode onto the Mac, a feature that will carry the name of “Power Nap” and will be implemented in the next generation of ARM architecture based processors. This way, the devices will be more than capable of installing updates, receive emails and synchronize your calendar and agenda appointments with the screen off or the computer at rest.

Nowadays, the ARM chips the Mac laptops wear are independent to the other components of the computer, focusing primarily on the functionality of the Touch Bar. However, the engineers’ intention is for the processors to take on and cover new responsibilities, thus becoming a much more important part in the system, working in conjunction with the storage and wireless components.

Then, developing your own chips then gives Apple more and more the ability to seamlessly integrate hardware and software functions. They would even have the opportunity to get more involved in the cost of the internal components of their own equipment.

However, since the Apple Campus have stated that at the moments do not have any intentions to divorce from Intel chips. The processor manufacturing company did not want to declare in this regard, as its shares fell by 0,8%. Meanwhile, Apple’s continued to top with a 6,1% increase to reach upper heights at $ 128,75 in the New York stock market.

In the end Apple decided to wait for manufacturers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung to make a decisive move in terms of reducing its dependence from Intel processors. If this were to happen, the company would surely make a better profit allowing them to continue developing its own components.

In conclusion, the trajectory initiated by Apple towards the implementation of optimized processors with ARM architecture, would represent the release of versions with significant improvements over the MacBook Pro for this year. According to sources, Apple is also working on a faster version of the 12″ MacBook and a new iMac with USB-C connectivity.